A New Start
by GotDairy
Summary: Say that Terra had a friend. Now, that friend didn't end up with Slade like she did. That friend ended up siding with the Titans, becoming good friends with them. This friend's name is Kat. With DNA modified to give her cat qualities it's no wonder where she got her name from. But Kat has a dark past. And on one fateful day, all of her efforts of hiding it will be destroyed.
1. Chapter 1

**Full Summary:**

Say that Terra had a friend. Say that when Terra ran away and ended up with Slade, her friend stayed with Robin and the others and didn't get tangled up in that mess. Say that after Terra got turned into stone, her friend stayed with the Titans and kept protecting their city, becoming great friends with all of them—but not as good of friends as she was with Terra.

That friend's name is Kat. With DNA modified to give her cat claws, ears, and tail, it's no wonder where she got her name from. But her normally smiling self is hiding a dark and sorrowful past—an event that simply cannot be hidden when someone shows up that was even better friends with her than Terra. _Before_ Terra even.

Her twin brother, who had dropped off the face of the Earth five years ago.

Now, trying to hide as much from the Titans as possible, Kat has to work with being with her twin again, finding it the same it was five years ago. Will her friends find out about her unexplained past? Or will it go unsaid?

**Chapter 1**

Kat always vowed to never talk to anyone about her brother. Not even Terra, her best friend for several years had known about him—or _her _for that matter.

But all efforts to cover up anything were utterly destroyed the day there was a red alert. The day also happened to exactly coincide with her birthday, and the anniversary marking the worst and most terrifying day of her life.

But I digress.

The day was like any other for her, and the rest of the Titans. Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing videogames. Robin was training. Starfire was trying a Tameranean recipe. And Raven was reading. Kat was sitting patiently on the couch, messing with her dark hair, absolutely absorbed in her thoughts and not her surroundings.

_Happy birthday to me, I guess… _she thought. No, she wasn't going to tell anyone. And _no_, she didn't want them to figure it out. Today could just be another day. A day to turn fifteen and nobody would know.

"Aw, Cyborg! Come _on!_" Beast Boy whined as Cyborg yet again kicked his green butt at a video wrestling game. Kat smiled, slightly amused.

"Booyah!" Cyborg shouted, jumping up and celebrating his victory.

"Here you go Kat…" BB said, reluctantly handing the controller over to her.

"No thanks." she declined.

"What?!" Beast Boy and Cyborg exclaimed at the same time.

"But you always wanna play!" Cy exclaimed.

"Not today," she said, smiling at how shocked he was.

"Hey Raven, Kat doesn't want to play videogames! Isn't that weird?" Beast boy asked her.

Raven looked up from her book, irritated. "She doesn't want to play. End of story. Go back to whatever you were doing before you asked her." She lifted up her book again, clearly drawing the conversation to a close.

"Friend, why is it that you do not want to play the videogames?" Starfire asked, popping up beside Kat.

Kat jumped in surprise. "Star, I'm fine. It's really not that big of a—"

"Perhaps you would like some authentic Tameranean cuisine? It improves the mood!" She thrust a bowl full of bubbling blue liquid in Kat's direction, smiling expectantly. Kat made a face and scooted away a few inches. _Eww._

"Uh, you know, I'm not really hungry…"

"You know, you've been kinda off all day, haven't you?" Cyborg asked, coming in on her from behind.

"Uh—" Kat tried to interject.

"Cy's right!" Beast Boy agreed, blocking the only exit from the situation. "You _have _been acting weird all day! What's up, Kat?"

Kat jumped up and out from the small crowd around her and landed on the floor several feet away. "I just said that I didn't want to play videogames." she said, slightly frustrated. "Is that such a crime?"

Before they could answer, the room began to flash red and a siren went off.

"Trouble!" Robin shouted, making it downstairs in no time. "Let's move out!"

Kat forgotten, everybody dashed out of the room, following robin's lead.

_Saved by the bell…_ Kat thought, relieved. _But just barely…_

Little did she know that all of her efforts that morning would be crushed in less than ten minutes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Where's the trouble?" Raven asked, flying alongside Robin, who rode his R-Cycle. Beast Boy soared overhead as a hawk, with Starfire not far behind. Cyborg was practically on top of Robin in the T-Car, and Kat ran, keeping up with all of them with the Cheetah DNA in her blood.

"Just a few blocks away," Robin replied, making a sharp turn. Everybody followed. "It was only a bank robbery, but they were armed. We don't want anybody getting hurt."

_Perfect, _Kat thought, smiling contently. _I get to throw a low-life criminal into jail for my birthday. What more could I ask for?_

As they veered around the final corner, they already saw the police parked outside of the front of the bank with lights flashing. The Titans slowed to a stop, already seeing several people being taken to the cars in cuffs.

"What?" Beast Boy asked nobody in particular, landing on the ground.

"Alright, who's taking care of our criminals?" Cyborg demanded, getting out of the T-Car and observing the scene.

"Could it be the Titans East?" Starfire asked, landing.

"No," Robin said, taking off his helmet. "I don't think so."

"Then who could it be?" Raven questioned, pulling her hood down and crossing her arms.

Kat took a few steps forward, looking around. Nobody appeared to be hurt. "Well, we aren't gonna find out just standing here," she said, looking back at her friends. "Let's go investigate." Everybody headed for the bank with her, dashing through the crowd of people.

Finally they managed to push through the people and get into the bank. "Okay, let's find out who solved the mess," Robin suggested, taking his role as leader. Everybody silently agreed.

It wasn't even two seconds before Starfire pointed someone out. "Could it be the one with wings?" she asked, pointing. _Wings?_ Kat half-wondered in the split-second it took her to look over at where her finger was aimed.

Her heart stopped.

"Whoa!" Beast Boy exclaimed at the sight of the boy, his dark brown wings partially extended—easily eight feet. "Check it out guys! That is _awesome_!"

"I have to admit; that's impressive." Raven said passively.

Kat felt sick. She started to edge to the back of the group. Luckily nobody noticed; too engrossed with the boy with wings._ Please don't call him over…_ She silently pleaded, squeezing her eyes shut.

She didn't have to worry about that. He came over by himself, probably to ask them to stop gawking.

"Hey," he said coolly, walking over with his hands shoved in his jean pockets casually. "So, I heard you guys are the heroes around here?" Kat didn't even look up. She stayed in the back with her arms crossed and head down so her hair veiled her face.

"Sure are. I'm Robin," he answered, offering a hand to the winged boy. He took it, shaking it firmly.

"I'm Beast Boy," BB said, stepping up eagerly. "Your wings are _awesome_ man!"

"I am Starfire!" Star introduced herself, smiling happily. "Greetings!"

"I'm Raven." Raven said emotionlessly. "Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Cyborg!" Cy exclaimed, offering a fist. The boy bumped it, grinning.

"It's great to meet you all," he said. "But… who's that in the back?" Everybody parted to reveal Kat. Bracing herself, she moved her hair from in front of her face to look the boy in the eyes. "Hi…" she said shyly, shuffling her feet.

"That's all I get?" he questioned, holding out his arms.

"Okay, fine." Kat gave in, stepping forward into his hug. "Happy birthday, Zayden."

"Happy birthday, Cassie." he replied, grinning in satisfaction.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Wait, it's your _birthday_?!" BB exclaimed. "_That's _why you were so off this morning!"

"Hold on," Robin intervened. "You two _know _each other?"

"Oh, Cassie didn't tell you?" Zayden said, sounding surprised. "I'm her twin brother."

Beast Boy snorted. "Hah… _Cassie…_"

Kat turned on him, full of rage. "It's short for Cassandra, _Garfield._" That shut him up.

"Can we really trust him?" Raven asked, narrowing her eyes. "Last time we had a secret birthday…"

"Of course you can trust Zayden!" Kat exclaimed in defense of her brother quickly. Realizing her outburst, she went on in a less-confident tone. "I mean… The whole town won't get turned to stone again…"

"But… why didn't you tell us this before?" Robin asked, staring at Kat through his mask.

Kat looked away to the marble floor, a sad look coming into her eyes. "It didn't really seem relevant… I'm sorry if you don't trust me as much anymore…"

"Of course we still trust you!" Starfire exclaimed, floating over to Kat. She then grabbed one of Zayden's arms, unintentionally tight enough to make him wince. "Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. Unless, of course, he betrays you and tries to turn you in to replace himself…"

"Uh… what?" Zayden asked, turning to Kat for an answer.

"Bad blood." she answered with a sigh. "But...Robin, if you wanted to, we could take him back to the tower. I promise you can trust him."

Robin seemed to consider the question before answering.

"Okay, Kat. He _is _your brother…"

"Yeah!" Zayden exclaimed, absolutely elated. Kat smiled at how happy he was. "Okay, Cass. Race, for old time's sake."

"You don't know where the tower is." she tried to object.

"It's the only one shaped like a _T_, right? I got this. To the water's edge."

"Zayden—"

"And go!" Zayden shouted, unfurling his wings and thrusting himself off of the ground with an enormous gust of wind, and soon rising to over fifty feet in the air.

"You idiot!" Kat shouted, running after him. "You call yourself fifteen!" But she was smiling all the same.

After they were well out of sight, the remaining Titans got ready to follow them. "I gotta say, they get along pretty well for siblings." Cyborg commented.

"Or, at least better than my sister and I…" Star added.

"I still don't entirely trust him yet." Robin muttered, staring at the horizon. "Sending one criminal to prison doesn't make him automatically good. But time will show whose side he's on. Let's go." Robing mounted his R-Cycle and put on his helmet. They returned in the direction of the tower, following Kat and her brother.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Fascinating!" Starfire exclaimed, marveling at Zayden's fifteen-foot wingspan. She dipped and darted around him, touching the soft feathers. They were all back at the tower, getting acquainted with Kat's brother.

Zayden gave an amused grin. "Yeah… too bad they're always there though. They can be kinda tricky to hide in public."

"Dude, why do you _want _to hide them in public?!" Beast Boy demanded, joining in on the conversation.

"Doesn't Cassie hide her ears?" Zayden asked, looking at his sister.

"Not since I joined the Titans." Kat answered, smiling. "I don't really have to."

"Awesome," Zayden said with a grin that Kat knew only too well.

"So, Zayden." Robin said, starting the conversation off. The rest of the Titans settled down on the couch in front of him, as if they were ready to take notes. "What brings you to the city?"

"I heard about you guys saving the world." he answered casually with a shrug. "That's not something that happens every day. And I heard rumors about one of the people who saved it was part cat. I thought I'd take a look and see if it was my sister."

"You two don't seem like you would willingly be apart…" Robin continued. "So if you don't mind me asking, how'd you two get separated?"

"Snowstorm." Kat answered automatically, sitting straight up like a pulse of electricity went through her. "We were walking through one and… never saw each other again. No matter how hard I looked."

Zander smiled bitterly. "It's true. I've been flying around way up in the sky since then." Kat winced at this, a tsunami of sadness overtaking her.

"Hey, Kat…" BB said, noticing her sudden mood change. "Are you okay?" Suddenly the spotlight was on her, and she was extremely uncomfortable.

"Yeah. It's just… it's been so long." she replied, blinking back unshed tears.

"How long?" Cyborg asked.

There was a pause before the response.

"Five years." The brother and sister answered at the same time.

Absolute silence filled the room.

"Well, we aren't gonna accomplish anything just sitting here and remembering bad things." Kat said briskly, standing up. The sentence was more for her than anyone else.

"You're right." Cyborg agreed. "Why don't we go and get some pizza?"

"Wonderful idea!" Star exclaimed, flying into the air several feet.

"Yeah, let's do that." Robin said. "Zayden, you must be hungry."

"Heck yeah!" he answered enthusiastically. "Flying isn't exactly the best thing for conserving energy. Flap and repeat…"

"Dude, tell me about it!" Beast Boy gave his enthusiastic consent. "See, that's why I want a moped…" They all walked out of the room joking around—except for Raven, who ended the line with a bored expression on her face. The only two people who remained in the room were Robin and Kat.

Kat stood with her arms crossed and looking down at her feet, as if pondering something. Robin began to walk out of the room at a leisurely pace, but she stopped him.

"Robin, you see him, right?"

"Huh?" Robin asked, turning around to look at the girl.

"You see Zayden. Right? He's… here?"

"Yeah…" Robin said, knitting his brow. "Why?"

"Nothing." Kat said, brushing off the question. She jumped over the couch lithely and leaped ahead of Robin. "I'm fine."

Robin hesitated for a split-second before following her. She sure didn't _seem_ fine.

Much the opposite, actually.


End file.
